Nowadays, it is quite rare to find someone who does not use words in other languages to refer to everyday life elements, places, or objects which, nevertheless, could be mentioned without any problem in Spanish.
The Spanish language has an immense wealth in terms of vocabulary, stylistic resources, expressions, proverbs, etc. However, in recent decades, due to the rise of technology and globalisation, we have replaced some existing Spanish words with others that we have borrowed from other languages, especially English. From “parking” to “smartphone”, not to mention some of the latest trends such as “shippeo”, “ghosting”, or “stalker”.
Having said that, what should be our stance on these phenomena?
On the one hand, loanwords contribute to broadening the cultural and communicative background of the communities. Furthermore, it is true that language is a changing and evolving entity that is always and inevitably undergoing changes, not only because of new societal realities and developments, but also because of the great number of cultural and interpersonal exchanges that are experienced daily and almost everywhere.
In fact, according to the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), which is part of the United Nations, the number of international migrants worldwide in 2020 was almost 281 million people (approximately 3.5 % of the world’s population). Therefore, many people, for different reasons, live in a place other than the one where they were born, sometimes living with a different language than their mother tongue and being exposed to different ways of perceiving the world, which implies exposure also to new words, used precisely to define these diverse realities.
The influence of social media and all the content we have access to, which is by no means limited to our city or our country, also plays a crucial role. From the comfort of our own sofa, we can consume content from a Korean youtuber, an American influencer, or a content creator showing his gap year in Australia. As time goes by, we are increasingly exposed to other cultures, other languages, and other traditions. All these factors, consciously or unconsciously, shape our thinking and they are integrated into our lives. This practice goes beyond linguistics, as it is also perceived in other aspects of life, such as gastronomy, trends, or music. The interesting point is that with loanwords we tend to feel a threat and to fear that Spanish will lose its power and importance. But do Hawaiian, Japanese or Italian food give us the same feeling? In these cases, is the (unequalled) Spanish gastronomy also under threat?
On the other hand, the undeniable advantages of loanwords should not lead us to stop caring for and valuing our mother tongue. If this were the case, we would experience a progressive decline and a loss of the richness of Spanish, because it would become more vacuous and insubstantial. It is essential to make a conscious effort to preserve the quality of Spanish (especially if we work as interpreters), in order to avoid the invasion of other languages and the deterioration of our beloved Cervantes’ language.
At the end of the day, as in any aspect of life, perhaps the best thing to do is to find a balance. We ought to adapt ourselves to new linguistic trends, which will probably involve terminological transfers from other languages, but without these having a negative impact on our mother tongue. Only by doing so will we find the middle ground between progress and care for what already exists. In other words, we will welcome the new with open arms while also embracing the past. After all, as they say in English, ‘sharing is caring’, right?
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Sources: https://www.un.org/es/global-issues/migration
